Chapter 28: Feelings

POV Veina

I stretched as I closed my diary and dismissed my maid for the night. I looked out the inn's window at David's manor one last time. It was oddly built, but charming in its own way with those white columns out front.

I sighed happily. How lucky I was that such an individual was summoned here, to this significant region of Monrovia. His lust for power mirrored my own, yet his generosity… to let others join his carriage so long as they let him take the lead.

I'd resolved to mimic what Lord Fulton was doing, and I'd made progress in hiring several people to help with their expertise. With the Baron's permission of course.

I was the last of my line, the small barony I ruled bordered Lord Fulton's. It was a simple and easy alliance of interests. The only shame was his unwillingness to marry. I'd have loved to push him down. The thought alone made me smile. Perhaps if I work towards it, he seems to enjoy rough play…

A knock at the door drove the thoughts from my mind. Was the inn Not closed for the night? Did my maid forget something? I'll have her ear if she did. I walked to the door, prepared to unleash abuse upon my maid to be greeted by someone I least expected.

"Sorry about showing up unannounced…" David scratched his head.

"Lord Fulton?" I gaped as I looked him over. He was panting slightly, as if he'd been on a run, but he looked like there was a weight on his shoulders, a heavier kind than what had been weighing on him than before.

"Is it alright if we talk? There's a lot on my mind right now…"

I showed the Baron inside and closed the door, I gave him my chair and sat on the desk. I could use this to get closer to him… no, best to build trust. He thinks me trustworthy if he came here after his dinner. "What weighs on you so late? Is it about Isz?"

He nodded.

"She confessed, didn't she?" I asked.

He nodded. I waited for him to say something, most men gush words and feelings as soon as the first question was asked. I found Lord Fulton's silence odd.

"She told me she loved me." He whispered quietly. Staring at the wall.

"I… I don't want to hurt her." He continued.

"Do you love her?" I asked. He nodded slowly.

"Why not accept it?" I asked confused.

"I can't marry a commoner, Veina! You know that." For some reason his remark was particularly biting, like I was extremely loose. I only had three men in my harem. Far less than most.

"So what? Make her a concubine." I shot back.

"And be like all the other nobles? Keep this ass backwards practice ongoing?" He sneered.

"You'll be lucky if you only marry one woman David." I fired back. "You have dozens of high noble ladies eyeing your hand. Even the Crown Princess! You'll never just have one woman!" I glared at him and he sank a bit in the chair.

"I… I know…" he said quietly. "I just… I can't hurt her like that."

"She knows all this David!" I gestured at my eye. "She knows she has to fight, she knows she's at the bottom. But she doesn't care at all about nobility if it means she gets to be with you!"

He glared at me, like I was strangling his newborn son. But he needed to hear this. Get it through his head that he was in Monrovia now and stop clinging to whatever culture he'd come from.

"We don't marry for love. You marry to use the other as a stepping stone, to further your own goals. This isn't wherever you hailed from. Here, you join a harem for love, because there you at least know their emotions are genuine." I grabbed his shoulder and sat on his lap.

"David… I'd rather marry you than join your harem. I'd use you like a stepping stone, take what you've done here in Aucterfith and claim it as my own." I stared into his eyes.

"Love is a rare thing for us nobles David… don't let it go to waste." He turned his head. I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me.

"You aren't leaving until I get it through your stupid. Thick skull." He furrowed his brows.

"I think I get it Veina…"

"You don't." I growled. "Isz attacked me. Gave me a black eye. Because I was bothering you. I could have had her executed for that. A commoner assaulting a noble?" I chuckled thinking about how much I'd wanted to do it earlier, now I was glad I didn't.

"Then why didn't you?" He asked, a hint of danger seeping into his tone.

"Because of what she said to me you stupid snail!" By the gods I wanted to slap him right now.

"What did she say?"

"That no one loved you as much as she did, that she'd deul me on the spot to prove it." I chuckled. "So I challenged her to prove you loved her."

"Guess we both lost our bet." I glared at him. "You should at least apologize to her. She's probably devastated."

I got off of him and pulled him to his feet. I started pushing him to the door. "Now get out before I try to seduce you." I winked as I closed the door behind him.

By Erotia that was far too close. Isz… hopefully I got it through to him. Probably not… if you can't win this deul. Then it's my turn… and it starts when the sun rises.